Hospodar and Coxe traded punches, but in a measured way. Both men established effective grips that mitigated the effects of the punches somewhat. After some preliminary shadow boxing from both men, Ed got off to a good start in the bout. He landed a solid blow, missed a punch, and landed another solid connect.

Coxe landed a solid blow and missed with a few punches. He landed a partial connect and missed with a couple of attempts. Ed landed a right hand with average power. Coxe landed a couple of decent blows and a right hand with average pop to end the contest.

I rate this fight as a draw. Hospodar built up a lead in the early part of the fight. His punch output trailed off as the fight went along. Coxe landed more blows, but Ed landed with a bit better pop.

Ed Hospodar and Craig Coxe meet up early in the second period and decide to drop the gloves. They squareoff for fifteen seconds, both guys trying plenty of times to grab on before they finally succeed. Hospodar throws two rights and lands one after Coxe lands a right and takes a moment to get set. Coxe misses a right and Hospodar lands a right that gets him turned around. Coxe throws three rights and lands two while Hospodar lowers his head and gets in close. They wrestle briefly and Hospodar then throws two rights, landing one. Coxe throws three rights and lands one while getting some separation from Hospodar and Coxe switches hands. Coxe misses a left, switches hands again, and misses a right. Then Coxe switches hands while Hospodar misses a right and Coxe misses a left after. Hospodar gets back in close and they resume wrestling afterwards. Coxe regains some separation from Hospodar and lands a left before switching hands. Coxe throws two rights and lands one as Hospodar gets in close which ends up knocking off Coxe's helmet. Hospodar gets a headlock on Coxe to hold his head down and then Hospodar misses a right with the linesmen moving in to stop the fight. Pretty good scrap. Win to Coxe for landing more and better punches, also doing some damage on Hospodar who left the ice with a cut on his forehead. Hospodar didn't throw as much and got more conservative as the fight went on.

Ed Hospodar lays out a Vancouver player along the boards and is challenged by Craig Coxe. The two men shadow box at center ice. After a few false starts, eventually they lock horns. Both men land a quick right and Hospodar misses with the next punch. Coxe misses with a right and Hospodar gets one in. Boxcar gets tagged by two quick punches from Coxe who starts to go to work now. They briefly wrestle before Coxe lands two rights and misses with one.

Coxe switches hands and connects with a left. He lands a right as does Hospodar, but Coxe scores with his left hand again as he starts to employ both hands in the fight. The two wrestle some more and Coxe scores with two more rights. Eventually the Vancouver tough guy loses his helmet as they wrestle. The linesmen see the two men are tired out so they decide to intervene.

Hospodar started out alright but faded badly down the stretch. Coxe hit him with quite a few blows from both hands and easily surpassed Boxcar in the punch count. Since Coxe landed most of the blows, he comes away with the clear win.

I saw this a little differently from everyone else, I couldn't really detect a clear winner here. The Boxcar and Coxe square off for a long time, and start throwing right hands at each other. At no time could I really see that either was getting much of an advantage with the amount of clutching and grabbing that was occurring, at best I could give Coxe a narrow win for appearing to be the more active of the two. Hospodar does emerge bloodied but the announcer made the comment it was coming from his forehead, and I remember that helmets from back then had a tendency to cut the forehead if they got pulled down at all. No major flurries by either or any major punches landed. Decent fight, not great._______________________________________________________________________

Took a second look and have to stand by the call of draw. Hospodar landed two good ones early, then Coxe landed a couple of good shots after that before the linesmen separated them. If anything after the second viewing I'm more convinced of a draw than I was earlier when I said possible narrow victory to Coxe.

Young Craig Coxe takes on the veteran Ed Hospodar here in a decent contest.

Looked like Hospodar levelled a Canuck close to the boards and Coxe didn't like it. They discuss then decide to drop them. After much posturing and Hospodar throwing 3 or 4 jabs trying to unsettle Coxe they grab on both men go right. Hospodar lands a pretty good right straight away as Coxe missed. Then Coxe lands a cracking right on Hospodars jaw. He felt it but took it well. They grapple as Coxe switches and misses then switches again with a partial connect on a few rights. Hospodar done a job defensively keeping himself out of range of the longer limbed Canuck. The men wrestle again as the linos get the chance to break it up.

Good win for the young Coxe against a tough opponent. Hospodar was never the same after Gillies ko'd him but he took a great shot from Coxe here and battled on.

Both combatants held their distance the first 10 seconds, jabbing at each other. After that they exchanged some good punches, switching between lefts & rights. Coxe tagged Hospodar with two good punches and Hospodar managed to get one good shot in. Coxe the more active one. Actually both guys were bleeding from cuts (not only Hospodar).

Murray Craven and Cam Neely trade shoves with each other as a whistle stops play and that draws the attention of everyone else on the ice. Craven grabs hold of Neely who wrestles Craven against the bench boards as a linesman tries to get between them. Garth Butcher comes in and grabs Brad Marsh, pulling him out of the crowd. Marsh's jersey comes in the process and allows him to rifle away with punches throughout the fight. Butcher tries to stand in there and throw back but takes the worst it before being toppled over. Marsh keeps Butcher on the ice but ends up throwing a few body punches when Butcher doesn't let go. A linesman has to go over to them to split them apart while other fights get going along the boards after Craven and Neely are broken up. Len Hachborn and Moe Lemay drop the gloves while Doug Lidster and Doug Crossman end up together and fighting. They go down to the ice and a linesman moves in to break them apart while Hachborn and Lemay stay up and continue fighting after a linesman gets between them. Hachborn throws numerous punches at Lemay before being restrained by the linesman. Once that's done, the linesman separates Lemay and Hachborn, ending the brawl.

Brad Marsh got into a scrap with Garth Butcher along the boards. Brad was not someone who fought too often. Garth loved to get into scraps and had a lot of fights. Marsh was a big guy who was pretty strong on his skates. Butcher was the better overall fighter and was the favorite going into the bout.

Marsh was usually not much of a strategist. In this bout, he did a great job of getting a vise-like grip over Garth's right shoulder. This was a good tactical move which mitigated the effect of Butcher's punches. Butcher landed a punch to Brad's armpit. Then, he missed badly with several follow up punches.

Brad fired off a series of right hands. He landed two good right hands at the onset of the fight. He followed up with three more solid connects. Marsh was landing flush shots and got off to a great start in the bout. He built up a big lead on the scorecard. Brad missed with an uppercut. Then, he landed a partial connect. He missed with his next blow.

Garth missed with his next punch. Then, he landed a decent right hand. Marsh came right back and landed two partial connects. He followed up by landing a hard uppercut, his best punch of the fight. Butcher was stopped in his tracks. He grabbed Brad in a hard headlock and pulled him down to the ice. Garth threw one more right as the men were falling to the ice. His punch appeared to miss. Marsh missed with his last right hand as well.

I rate this as a decisive win for Marsh. He nailed Butcher with several good punches. Garth only landed a couple of decent shots in return. Brad drilled Butcher with a hard uppercut. After that, Garth pulled Brad's head down with the intent of dragging the big man to the ice. Butcher didn't appear to want the fight to continue. He went for the takedown immediately after getting nailed with the uppercut.

The fight against Butcher may have been the most impressive performance of Brad's career. Marsh was enigmatic and inconsistent in bouts. He could surprise observers by looking good in some fights, like this bout and in a win against Ron Greschner. Other times, he had spirited draws, such as his bout with Darryl Sittler. He looked bad in losses on numerous occasions, as in fights with Gord Lane, Jack Carlson, and Bryan Maxwell.

Brad was a big defenseman who was good in his own end. He was strong and could wrestle well when necessary. Some of his fights were boring wrestling matches. Ironically, one of his most feeble efforts was in a bout against Jim Pavese that took place only a few weeks after his impressive upset win over Butcher. He looked like he was dancing a waltz on the Lawrence Welk show in that snooze-fest.

Marsh seemed to have the physical ability to be a good fighter. He lacked the temperment to typically let it all hang out when he fought. When Brad got heated, he could be formidable. He didn't fight with much passion or inspiration in many of his bouts. He looked intimidating by not wearing a helmet, which was a rarity by the time he retired. The looks in this case were deceiving. Kelly Miller went right after him after Brad knocked him down in a game. He had no hesitation in throwing power punches at Brad. He did not fear the consequences and battered Marsh in that fight.

Marsh was capable of looking impressive in certain bouts. He had above-average power. However, he was slow and could be easy to hit when he decided to slug it out with a foe. He rarely employed effective strategies in a bout. The fight with Butcher was an anomaly. Brad was a good defensive defenseman who was a goalie's best friend because of his responsible play in front of the net. He rarely put fear in opponents with his abilities with his fists. The fight with Butcher was a rare exception.

Garth Butcher drops the gloves upon entering the brawl and targets Brad Marsh in the crowd. Butcher grabs Marsh and Marsh wrestles himself free from Moe Lemay, who's also pulled away by Len Hachborn. Butcher then gets the jersey over Marsh's head and misses a right. The jersey comes off before Butcher misses a right and then Butcher misses another right as they move away from the crowd. Marsh lands a right and then misses a right while Butcher misses a right. Marsh throws three rights and lands two and then misses a right as Butcher misses a right. Marsh throws two rights and lands one while Butcher ducks his head and tries to get in close. Butcher then misses a right as Marsh misses a right and then Butcher gets his head up while throwing two rights and landing one. Butcher's helmet comes off in doing so and after Marsh misses a right, Butcher misses a right and ducks his head again. Marsh misses a right but lands a right as Butcher misses a right and then turns away. Marsh throws three rights and lands two, one snapping Butcher's head back. Butcher stays in close and misses a right while Marsh misses a right but then Butcher falls down. Marsh lands on top of Butcher and holds him down but they start talking to each other. Marsh lands three rights to the body and they resume talking to each other until a linesman gets in and gets them broken up. A good fight with Marsh obviously getting the win.

Out of a scrum these two decide to go. Butcher lands a bodyshot then Marsh takes over landing a few rights to the helmeted head of Butcher, they wrestle for a few seconds and Marsh pulls Butchers helmet off and then starts wailing away landing a couple rights then a huge uppercut that rocks Butcher and causes him to hold on. Marsh then takes Butcher down landing on top and lands a couple bodyshots and pulls Butchers hair while they are on the ice (the linesmen are breaking up the scrum) wrestling around and talking for awhile. Finaly a linesman comes over and breaks them up.All Marsh in this one landing a couple big shots and the hard uppercut was essentialy they end of the but.

The refs stopped the game because Stan Smyl was injured. Halward drop the gloves and suddenly jumps Ron Sutter, other players immediately came in and large scrum started. Halward got 5+game for fighting at this time.

Stan Smyl gets injured and goes to the ice, staying down which forces a stoppage in play. A trainer comes out to attend to Smyl while Al MacAdam and Ron Sutter both stand over Smyl. Then Doug Halward goes after Sutter. Halward drops the gloves and immediately takes Sutter down as a linesman tries to get in to break it up. Brad Marsh barges in to get at Halward but he's grabbed by MacAdam after tumbling over Smyl. Tony Tanti also tries to grab at Marsh but ends up falling over Smyl as well. Ilkka Sinisalo grabs hold of Tanti from behind and pulls him out of the crowd. Brad McCrimmon tries to get in on MacAdam, who's got a hold on Marsh, but McCrimmon's pushed down by Doug Lidster, who's then grabbed by Thomas Eriksson. McCrimmon, MacAdam, and Marsh all get up and move away from Smyl but continue wrestling with each other as well as Lidster along the boards as Eriksson just lets go of Lidster and steps away. The linesmen break up Halward and Sutter and while still on the ice, Sutter says something to Smyl as the scrum dies down.

Ron Sutter has a good scoring chance but it stopped and the rebound goes to the endboards. As Sutter gets it, Al MacAdam is on the backcheck and plants Sutter into the boards from behind. MacAdam puts his hands right into Sutter's upper back, knocking him down while sending him straight into the boards. Lindsay Carson goes right at MacAdam and bumps him and another brawl gets underway in this game. A dirty hit by MacAdam without question.

Al MacAdam plants Ron Sutter into the boards from behind so Lindsay Carson bumps MacAdam as a whistle stops play. Carson is grabbed by Gary Lupul and Garth Butcher but Lupul soon lets go and grabs Brad McCrimmon as he skates into the brawl. A linesman pulls MacAdam out of the brawl, leaving Carson paired off with Butcher but they go to the ice with a linesman trying to break them up. Meanwhile J.J. Daigneault grabs onto Rich Sutter and pulls him away from Marc Crawford because Crawford has a hold of Ron Sutter. Daigneault and Rich Sutter jostle around but end up breaking up and the rest of the brawl settles but then Rich Sutter goes over to John Garrett starts chirping at him. Lupul and Crawford both go right to Rich Sutter and get him away from Garrett. Carson and Butcher then come in and Carson gets a gloved left in on Butcher while McCrimmon pairs off with Crawford. A linesman breaks them up and the brawl settles again as players are taken off the ice. However Rich Sutter resumes chirping at Garrett. Daigneault decides to go after Rich Sutter, dropping the gloves and pulling him to the ice. Rich Sutter only covers up and when Marty Howe tries to get in and help his teammate but ends up being grabbed from behind and hauled to the ice by Lupul. Ron Sutter tries to grab Lupul but is followed by Butcher and taken down. Butcher jostles Ron Sutter around on the ice but a linesman gets in to break it up while a linesman also gets Daigneault away from Rich Sutter. A long brawl with a good amount of action. It had settled on different occasions but more rough stuff broke out, each time because of Rich Sutter chirping at Vancouver Canucks' goalie, Garrett. The only fights came right at the end of the brawl as Daigneault went after Rich Sutter and Ron Sutter ended up with Butcher. However neither of the fights got going whatsoever with only one punch being thrown between them.